


Sticks and Stones

by Nikasha



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Comfort/Angst, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 17:26:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4445312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikasha/pseuds/Nikasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud dreams about dying with a thousand piercing arrows through him, and refuses to sleep again; Zack hasn't been sleeping well since he had to fight the monster Angeal became, consumed with worry one day he'll have to do the same to someone else he trusts. With foresight of the wrong fates, they comfort each other in the still of the night, and promise each other they'll be there, always, ironic as the oaths will become. Later, riddled with bullets in a moment from a different man's nightmare, Zack appreciates the joke, and faces it with a smile.</p>
<p>  <em>Sticks and stones may break my bones, but as long as he's around, you cannot hurt me.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Sticks and Stones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Khemi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khemi/gifts).



> First work posted on here.  
> Hope you like it~

Zack sat in bed, listening to the soothing sound of Cloud sleeping next to him. He wished he could join the blond in dreams, but his mind and nightmares were keeping him awake.  
  
The image of Angeal lying on the floor, gray as stone and still as a statue entered his mind’s eye. He pushed it away quickly, but it wasn’t something to be denied once it had gained entry. Angeal’s body was replaced by Sephiroth, then Aerith, then Cloud. He ground the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to stifle the images his mind supplied.  
  
A cold laugh echoed in the back of his mind.  
  
Zack shook, his breath shuddering, locked in a nightmare. He was on the verge of hyperventilating when a sudden gasp shocked him out of it.  
  
Cloud sat up sharply, eyes wide and unseeing.  
  
Zack reached over tentatively and touched the blond’s shoulder. Cloud reacted violently, crying out and throwing himself away from Zack. The SOLDIER had to lunge forward and catch him around the waist before he fell off the bed. “Cloud!” Zack was alarmed by Cloud’s fervent attempts to free himself. “Cloud! It’s me, Zack!”  
  
The blond slowly calmed and stared at him with vacant eyes. Then suddenly glazed blue cleared, and Cloud blinked at him with recognition. “…Zack?” He rubbed his eyes, panting like he had just run a race. “D-Did I wake you up?”  
  
“No,” Zack answered. He soothingly ran his hands through sweaty blond locks. “Are you okay?”  
  
“Just a nightmare,” Cloud muttered. He sounded frustrated.  
  
“What about?”  
  
The infantryman shook his head. “Nothing. It’s stupid.”  
  
“I doubt that,” Zack hummed, frowning at his clearly distressed boyfriend. “C’mon, chocobo, tell me.”  
  
Cloud just glared at him for a moment in response to the nickname. Then he sighed and sheepishly pulled on the long lock of hair next to his face. “Dreamt about dying,” he answered quietly.  
  
Zack almost winced at the echo of his earlier thoughts. He pushed it aside in favor of kissing Cloud’s forehead lightly. “That’s not stupid.”  
  
“Is, too,” the blond disagreed childishly. “SOLDIERs aren’t afraid of dying. You guys see it all the time! Plus, I doubt you’d have fears of being shot full of holes.”  
  
Zack shook his head. “It never gets easier,” he said quietly. Cloud’s eyes lit up with realization, but Zack quickly covered his mouth with a hand. “No, don’t worry about it, babe.” He removed his hand. “It’s not just about Angeal. SOLDIERs see death all the time, yeah, but it never gets easier. Seeing something living go so still in a split second…It really puts into perspective how fragile life is.”  
  
Cloud crawled into Zack’s lap and snuggled into his chest. “You didn’t get any sleep, did you?” he asked softly. “You were thinking about Angeal.”  
  
“Mm,” Zack confirmed. He wrapped his arms around Cloud. He appreciated the sensation of his soft skin and buried his face in blond hair, breathing in Cloud’s smell. “I feel like someday I’m going to have to do it again,” he confessed. “ShinRa is going to corrupt one of my friends, and I’m going to have to kill them.”  
  
“Angeal shouldn’t have done that to you,” Cloud muttered then winced.  
  
Zack pressed his face further into blond spikes and said nothing. Cloud wouldn’t have said such a thing if he weren’t so sleepy.  
  
The blond sighed. “He wanted it that way, Zack. You didn’t kill him. You were doing him a favor.”  
  
Zack hummed again and readjusted Cloud to give him a sad kiss. “I know. But it doesn’t feel that way.” He brushed blond bangs back from a moonlit face, taking in the sight of large blue eyes. “Tell me about your dream.”  
  
Cloud hesitated before slowly telling him. “I was trying to protect something. It was so dark, and yet so bright…I don’t remember any of the details. I knew I had to protect something, no matter what. I remember being shot with thousands of arrows, feeling them hitting me all over…And then I woke up.”  
  
Zack smoothed his thumbs over Cloud’s soft skin. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, Cloud. You can trust me. I’ll keep you safe.” He smiled. “You’re too beautiful to die.”  
  
Cloud turned beet red and ducked his head slightly, tugging his bangs free from Zack’s grasp and curtaining his face slightly once more. He looked up, frowning with determination. He cradled Zack’s face between his hands. “And I’ll help you. You won’t have to hurt anymore of your friends. If you get put back in that situation, I’ll do it so you don’t have to.”  
  
Zack blinked at the stubborn glint in his eyes and huffed a small laugh. When Cloud looked upset, he kissed him to clarify that he wasn’t making fun of him. “I’ll hold you to that,” he said after they separated. “And I promise to be around to protect you. Always.”  
  
“I should be able to protect myself soon enough,” Cloud protested.  
  
Zack flicked his forehead, and the blond whined loudly. The SOLDIER laughed. “I’m still the First Class!” he declared. “It’s my job to protect you.” He felt a small flinch when he realized it was the first time he had been proud to declare himself as First. For too long it had felt cheapened by Angeal’s death, but using it as a badge to prove to his lover that he was worthy of protecting him…he felt like he finally could appreciate it.  
  
Cloud pushed him down and they kissed lazily, simply enjoying being with each other and cementing their promise.  
  
Zack laid back, arms wrapped around Cloud and felt the nightmares fade behind a shield produced by Cloud’s love for him. As long as the blond was around, he wouldn’t have to worry about the images attacking him anymore.  
  
“Always,” he heard Cloud whisper sleepily, echoing him from earlier.

Zack coughed weakly around the liquid pooling in his lungs. The wounds left by bullets piercing his lungs had healed, but the blood remained. He peered up tiredly at the army grunt that walked over and leaned over him. The barrel of a gun was presented to him. Zack stared it down without fear. He had protected Cloud from his nightmare. He had kept his promise, and so had Cloud. No more of his friends would die by his hand.  
  
The gun fired.  
  
Zack awoke again with a small wince and grunt to the feeling of rain hitting his skin. It was a surprisingly sharp coolness to his otherwise dulled senses. He wondered absently if Aerith would know about his death. Maybe Cloud could tell her, if she didn’t know.  
  
He realized he could hear grunting and the wet sound of a body being dragged through mud. Cloud entered his line of sight.  
  
He lifted his head to painfully look at the blond. One glimpse and he knew Cloud was still foggy. This whole scenario may very well be too much for him. But Zack had to speak to him…to talk with him one last time.  
  
“For the…both of us…”  
  
“Both…of us?” It hurt Zack to see the confusion in those bright blue eyes. But it was okay…because Cloud would understand one day. He would remember their promise, and understand exactly why Zack had done what he had done.  
  
“That’s right. You’re gonna…”  
  
“Gonna?”  
  
Zack reached up, struggling to get his arm to cooperate. He grasped the back of Cloud’s neck and pulled him to his chest. Cloud’s forehead touched over his heart.  
  
_I love you._  
  
“Live.”  
  
You won’t die here, Cloud.  
  
“You’ll be…my living legacy.”  
  
Show the world what a hero can do.  
  
“My honor, my dreams…They’re yours now.”  
  
But I’ll still be there to protect you. As I promised.  
  
Cloud held the Buster close to his heart. A spark of realization seemed to hit him. “I’m…your living…legacy.”  
  
Zack let his eyes slide closed, knowing with those repeated words that Cloud would remember.  
  
_“I doubt you’d have fears of being shot full of holes.”_  
  
He smiled at the irony. He wondered if Cloud would be the one to kill his friends. If he faced that, Zack would find a way to be there to help him, as Cloud had promised to help.  
  
It would be okay.  
  
_Live._


End file.
